


accomplice

by rubyisms



Series: if i killed someone for you [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Accomplice au, Drabble, M/M, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 10:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24848605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubyisms/pseuds/rubyisms
Summary: Goro was late.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kitagawa Yusuke
Series: if i killed someone for you [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816624
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	accomplice

Goro was late. Yusuke can’t help but frown as the thought crosses his mind. Was he held up by Shido? Was he just running behind? A few scenarios cycle through his mind as he waits in the solitude of the dark alleyway. It wasn’t an ideal meeting spot, but with his role in all of this, it was best to stay away from any wandering eyes that were far too nosy for their own good.

Not that it matters anymore. For a month now, Yusuke has been feeding Goro, and by extension Shido, false information on the Phantom Thieves. Part of him broke in time at the inner turmoil in his chest that kept him lying awake at night, more than the hunger pains did, and yet part of him knew that helping the Phantom Thieves was the right thing. Even if it hurt to betray his oldest friend like this, lying right to his face.

When did it begin? In the beginning, he absolutely loathed them. Akira was arrogant, Ryuji was vulgar, Morgana’s constant complaining was more annoying than it was endearing... Even Ann, who he admittedly found a small muse for his artwork in, was still annoying to him. Goro had been thrilled when Yusuke told him he had found the Phantom Thieves by pure coincidence, the pair having to quickly come up with a lie as to why Yusuke had already awoken to Goemon. Somewhere along the way, those little qualities that Yusuke couldn’t stand became nothing as he saw the sides of the Phantom Thieves that they kept hidden. As the team grew, so did his desire to keep them safe from Shido and Goro’s plot.

Footsteps rouse him from his thoughts, and he turns to face the familiar outline lurking in the shadows. There’s enough light at this angle that Yusuke can see the features of Goro’s face, as well as the vague color of his clothing. It’s nothing new, just what he always wore. The detective prince is quiet, staring at Yusuke with an expression that’s hard to read. Yusuke swallows hard. He adored his partner in crime, for years in fact, but there was still an unsettling feeling that took a hold of him whenever Goro was hard to read like this.  
  
“You’re late-” And then comes the gun, tucked away wherever Goro kept it hidden. The cold metal presses firmly between Yusuke’s eyes, resting on the bridge of his nose. What was once a hard to read expression is now just as hard and cold as the barrel trained on his face. Yusuke feels the words he was going to say catch in his throat, and his hands tremble just a little.

“You’ve been lying to me.” His partner hisses through his teeth. The words in his throat sink down to his stomach, and Yusuke’s mouth goes dry. “For the past month, everything you’ve told me about those damn Thieves have been nothing but lies.”  
  
“Why would I lie to you, Goro?” Yusuke finally manages, his voice a breathless whisper. There must be something on his face that gives away the fear he instinctively feels at the gun to his head and the cold tone of someone who he considered a dear friend, despite the betrayal.

“Because you’ve grown to care for them, haven’t you?” His tone is bitter, the sound causing an ache in Yusuke’s chest. “Of course you have. You’ve been _so lonely_ your entire life. One person wasn’t enough, you just had to go find more like the greedy bastard you are-”  
  
“That’s enough!” Yusuke’s voice wobbles as he cuts Goro off. “And so what if I have? They’re good people, Goro! They’re helping others, working for good. For _justice._ Wasn’t that your dream once?”  
  
The gun digs deeper into his skin, and Goro steps into the light, snarling. “Don’t try that with me! Good? Justice?! To hell with that shit!” There’s a cold rage in his eyes, one unfamiliar to Yusuke himself, and Yusuke was half convinced if Goro was an animal, he would be frothing at the mouth. “You and I both know whatever they’re doing isn’t justice!”  
  
“Isn't it?” His voice goes softer, hoping it will be enough to temper Goro’s rage. “These were horrid, despicable people who have been shown the errors of their ways, confessing by their own violation, serving a sentence by a court. It’s an unorthodox method, I suppose, but they’re still correcting the justice that the rotten adults, the ones you and I have been working against, refuse to give.”

There’s a long pause and the fire in Goro’s eyes dies for a moment. “Don’t make me do this.” His voice is softer, though it remains laced with barbed wire.

“You’re not so different from them, Goro.”

Wrong choice of words. Goro’s rage comes right back, searing and burning. “Shut up! I’m nothing like them! I had to work hard to get where I am today and those insufferable brats and their _precious leader_ got it handed to them on a silver platter!”

Yusuke’s heart breaks. He knew Goro’s rage festered from Shido and the childhood that the rotten man had shattered, but never in a million years, did he ever see himself on the receiving end of that rage. He loves Goro, he does. But the man he called a partner and trusted as a friend had been so blinded by his hatred and anger, he had forgotten the justice he originally set out to inflict upon Shido. The justice for the childhood that was lost. The justice for the mother that adored him. That justice was gone, and only revenge remained.

Angry, bitter, and ugly revenge.

“... Then you’re nothing like me either.” Yusuke’s voice pierces through the silence that was only filled with Goro’s heavy breathing. 

“.... So. This is your choice, then.” He might be imagining it, but Yusuke swears that he can hear a wobble in Goro’s voice. The gun loosens where it rests on his face, but it remains pressed into him.

“If you refuse to see the other side, then yes. I... I don't want this, Goro. You were there when no one was. My closest friend.” He reaches out to try and touch Goro’s shoulder, a last desperate plea to get his friend to put down his gun and stow away his anger and _come with him._

Goro moves back. The gun goes with him. “You don’t deserve the privilege of using my name anymore, Kitagawa.” His voice is cold as the ice that coursed through Yusuke’s blood in the Metaverse. “If that’s your choice, then so be it.” His face has fallen away from Yusuke, half hidden in the shadows he emerged from originally. 

“The next time we meet, don’t expect me to have mercy.”

Akechi merges into the shadows once more, and Yusuke is alone.

The emotions come rushing to him all at once. The anger, the heartbreak, the distraught feeling of losing his first and closest friend who he loved _more_ than that. Just like that, gone. Yusuke chokes on a sob that he attempts to fight back, reaching desperately for Goemon’s comforting words in his mind, but it isn’t enough.

In the darkness of the dirty and cold alleyway, Yusuke Kitagawa mourns.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!


End file.
